All the Real Girls

Young love in a North Carolina mill town leads to a trial-and-error test of honesty, inner decency, happiness, expectations and friendship for one of the town’s most notorious Lotharios when he begins dating the virgin sister of his best lifelong buddy. This story about dead-end America and the flaws and values of its inhabitants is told through gently rippling vignettes fueled by a pitch-perfect soundtrack featuring such artists as David Wingo, Sparlehorse, Mogwai and the Promise Ring. Director David Gordon Green, who explored hero worship and childhood relationships in the critically acclaimed George Washington, has opted for an ambiguous, open ending that may disappoint some audiences but left me wanting more of this naturalistic, melancholy and sometimes very comic slice of life.